RAMONA FALLS, DIRTY MITTENS, MONARQUES, PALMZ (Rontoms, 600 E Burnside) FALL—Brent Knopf's going to be busy the rest of 2010 with Menomena, but tonight's a rare chance to see his excellent band Ramona Falls, who were responsible for one of last year's most exquisite records, Intuit. No mere side project, Ramona Falls is every bit as deserving of the accolades and attention that Knopf's other band regularly receives. NL
w/Monarques, Dirty Mittens; Rontoms, 600 E Burnside, 9 pm, FREE
TOKYO POLICE CLUB, FREELANCE WHALES, ARKELLS (Aladdin Theater, 3017 SE Milwaukie) I may have jumped the gun on Tokyo Police Club. The first I heard of them was their 2006 EP, A Lesson in Crime. It was great, but by the time they got around to releasing their first full-length record, Elephant Shell, in 2008, I had already moved on to other things. So I very nearly slept on their latest album, Champ, and I'm glad I didn't: Even on first listen, it's obvious that it's their best work yet, loaded with lockstep grooves and brazen melodies. These Ontario lads were just a bunch of teens when Tokyo Police Club first started; they've evolved into excellent songwriters, kicking off Champ with the startlingly good one-two punch of "Favorite Food" and "Favorite Color," the latter of which has one of the most undeniable hooks of any song this year. NL
SYMMETRY/SYMMETRY, TANGO ALPHA TANGO, WATER AND BODIES (Doug Fir, 830 E Burnside) Oregon band Symmetry/Symmetry have titled their debut album Have Cake, and that is exactly what they'd like for you to do: have some cake, goddammit. They've claimed that they'll be serving free cake at tonight's album release show, and if that wasn't enough of a draw, they'll be playing the entirety of Have Cake from start to finish. It's an immaculately constructed collection of arty mood-rock, with big ambitions and sweeping arrangements. Recorded over a year and a half at Salem's Marigold Studios, where Symmetry/Symmetry members Daniel Jones and Joel Uram ply their trade behind the boards, there's not a mussed note or fluffed run in the 14 tracks. Live, the band punches a bit harder, giving the band's tightly composed songs a bit of a looser feel—the perfect soundtrack for a cake fight. (No. Joking. Do not start a cake fight.) NL
Smmr Bmmr/TRMRS after the jump!
As always, you can find our complete live music listings here.